A Cowboy Named Dennis
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Oneshot. Dennis is a cowboy and Gina his *gal*.


**Here's a new Dennis the Menace oneshot I cooked up. It's about Dennis "the Menace" Mitchell and his friend Gina Gillotti. **

**I love how, unlike Margaret Wade, Gina doesn't try to change Dennis or his habits, instead preferring to let him be, which he greatly respects.**

**Plus, she doesn't come unglued whenever she sees spiders or other bugs. Instead she likes them. This causes Dennis to opine, **

**"If there ever was such a thing, Gina would be...**

**My Kinda Girl"**

**Disclaimer: Genius Hank Ketchum owns Dennis the Menace. I own the songfics, oneshots and stories. The lyrics to Cowboy's Sweetheart by LeeAnn Rimes and Rodeo by Garth Brooks belong to their respective owners. **

**A Cowboy Named Dennis**

_I wanna be a cowboy's sweetheart  
I wanna learn to rope and ride  
I wanna ride through the plains and the desert  
Out west of The Great Divide_

_I wanna hear the coyotes singing  
As the sun sets in the west  
I wanna be a cowboy's sweetheart  
That's the life I love the best._

_I wanna ride a paint  
Moce it at a run  
I wanna feel the wind in my face  
A thousand miles away from all  
Movin' in the cowman's face_

_I wanna pillow my head  
Beneath the open sky  
As the sun sets in the west  
I wanna strum my guitar and "yodel-le-hee-hee"_  
_That's the life I love the best_

-LeeAnn Rimes, **Cowboy's Sweetheart**

One day at 25 Maple Drive in Wichita, Kansas, there lived a boy named Dennis Mitchell. He had blond hair that usually got in his eyes, which were blue.

Of course, his nickname was "the Menace". The reason why was because he sometimes played pranks on people whenever he got the chance.

He never meant to be like that. He was a real curious boy and a fun-loving kid. He got into trouble, and he knew how to shoot a slingshot. One of his hobbies was pretending he was being a cowboy.

One of his friends was named Gina Gillotti. She was a tomboy with long black hair to her waist and brown eyes. Much to the surprise of Dennis, she liked bugs and spiders, and never came unglued in their presence. And she never tried to correct Dennis or change him for the better, like Dennis' neighbor Margaret Wade.

Margaret was something special. She was a bit taller, two years older and, she thought, MUCH wiser than her heartthrob, Dennis. Margaret knew Dennis had great potential, but badly needed shaping up under her guidance; she had grandiose dreams of a romantic future and lots of children. Dennis tolerated her piano playing as long as the cookies held out. In fact, Margaret's cookies and fudge were the cement that bound their relationship together, however shaky it sometimes become. She kept coming back in spite of rebuffs, insults, put-downs and outright total rejection – which was usually on Dennis's part. All of this fazed her only momentarily, for her mind was made up.

Gina, on the other hand, simply joined in Dennis' games and accepted him for what he was, which Dennis greatly respected. And she especially liked it when Dennis pretended he was a cowboy. The cowboy hat really brought out the cowboy in him, and she liked the cowboy boots with spurs as well.

Then there was the tone he adopted when he was, according to him, "speaking the language of the cowboy".

"Hey, gal, I was wonderin' if you would like to go for a ride with me," Dennis said in a Texas drawl, like his hero on television, Hopalong Cassidy.

Gina blinked, pulled out of her musings and looked at him. Then she smiled.

"Sure!" she replied.

With that, she got on behind Dennis, and Dennis flicked the reins.

"Let's go!" he shouted.

With that, they were off...

Of course, whenever Dennis was around, adventures and mishaps were right around the corner.

_His eyes are cold and restless  
His wounds have almost healed  
And she'd give half of Texas  
Just to change the way he feels  
She knows his love's in Tulsa  
And she knows he's gonna go  
Well, it ain't no woman, flesh and blood  
It's that damned old rodeo_

_(chorus)  
Well, it's bulls and blood  
It's dust and mud  
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd  
It's the white in his knuckles  
The gold in the buckle  
He'll win the next go round  
It's boots and chaps  
It's cowboy hats  
It's spurs and latigo  
It's the ropes and the reins  
And the joy and the pain  
And they call the thing rodeo_

_She does her best to hold him  
When his love comes to call  
But his need for it controls a man  
And her back's against the wall  
And it's "so long girl, I'll see you"  
When it's time for him to go  
You know the woman wants her cowboy  
Like he wants his rodeo_

_*chorus*_

_It's bulls and blood  
It's dust and mud  
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd  
It's the white in his knuckles  
The gold in the buckle  
He'll win the next go round  
It's boots and chaps  
It's cowboy hats  
It's spurs and latigo  
It's the ropes and the reins  
And the joy and the pain  
And they call the thing rodeo_

_It'll drive a cowboy crazy  
It'll drive the man insane  
And he'll sell off everything he owns  
Just to pay to play her game  
And a broken home and some broken bones  
Is all he'll have to show  
For all the years that he spent chasin'  
This dream they call rodeo_

_*chorus*  
Well, it's bulls and blood  
It's dust and mud  
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd  
It's the white in his knuckles  
The gold in the buckle  
He'll win the next go round  
It's boots and chaps  
It's cowboy hats  
It's spurs and latigo  
It's the ropes and the reins  
And the joy and the pain  
And they call the thing rodeo_

_It's the broncs and the blood_

_It's the steers and the mud_

_And they call the thing rodeo_

_-_Garth Brooks, **Rodeo**

**Well, I hope you liked it. Sorry it's short, but I prefer quality over quantity. Only nice reviews will make me write more.**


End file.
